Creating Cosmetics: Menopausal Skin

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Siobhan Murphy: Hello, and welcome to In Conversation With, the monthly podcast series brought to you by the team that produced the Global Cosmetics News Feed. This year’s theme is creating cosmetics.

Siobhan Murphy: This month’s topic is Menopausal Skin. And I’m your host, Siobhan Murphy. According to a 2020 report released by venture capitalist firm Female Founding Fund, about 1 billion women worldwide are expected to be in menopause by 2025. Business experts anticipate business opportunities in the range of 600 billion U.S. dollars. With such vast sums at stake, why has the cosmetics industry largely ignored this huge market? Where do the opportunities for future product innovation lie? To help me answer these questions and more, it is my pleasure to introduce you to this month’s panel.

Hello and welcome back to Harold Van der Hoeven, Director of Product Design and Development at CLR Berlin. Joining the panel for the first time is Wizz Selvey, co-founder of Valerie Women’s Healthcare Brand, and Susanna Hancock, founder and GenXer. Harold, let’s start with you. What are the consumer challenges, and where are the opportunities for ingredient companies that create products for menopausal skin?

Harold Van der Hoeven: There is a huge challenge, as you mentioned. The cosmetic industry doesn’t really focus a lot on postmenopausal women. And for a few reasons, which I think we’re going to get to one by one during the podcast we’re recording now. Essentially, women spend more or less one third of their lives in a post-menopausal period, and during menopause, skin changes perceivably. So after menopause, skin is definitely different in many aspects than before menopause.

A third of a woman’s life, her skin is drier than before, with less sebum being produced, less collagen, skin is less resilient, more fragile, etc. There’s a huge impact on quality of life and well-being from that point of view. A big challenge lies in the fact that Generation Xers are becoming postmenopausal, or have become postmenopausal for a big part at least, and they are definitely different from the generations before.

Generation Xers are demanding and knowledgeable. We know how to search through Google if we have a problem. Altogether, it’s a difficult problem—biologically, scientifically—and it has a huge impact on quality of life. It’s a complex consumer, and that makes it hard for the cosmetic industry to create good-quality products that have a perceivable effect for people who are demanding. Altogether, it’s a huge challenge for the industry.

Siobhan Murphy: Wizz, what are the consumer challenges at your brand, Valerie?

Wizz Selvey: I think a lot of it is around education—about what’s happening to a woman’s body and also with their skin. There’s a lot of talk about menopause, which is fantastic, but at Valerie, we’re coming at this from the perimenopause stage. What we’re seeing is that search terms for perimenopause are four times higher than for menopause. So even though there’s a conversation happening about menopause, people don’t understand that they need to start thinking about what’s happening to their bodies in the perimenopausal stage, which can be up to 10 years before menopause.

Most people experience symptoms for an average of 11 and a half years through the different phases. One thing we’re seeing is that consumers want efficacy—they want things that actually work. The brand we’ve created is in the supplement market. We’ve used a liposomal formulation to deliver nutrients, which is up to 46 times more bioavailable than pills and powders. People have seen effects within a week or two, which is really exciting. It’s the same with skincare—people want something that works and also want to understand what’s changed in their skin and what they need that’s different.

Siobhan Murphy: Indeed. Susanna, what advice do you give brands regarding these consumer challenges?

Susanna Hancock: Well, it’s interesting because I come to the table as a Gen X perimenopausal-to-menopausal woman who’s been in the whole cycle for 20 years. I also represent the voice of Gen X and boomer women. The biggest challenge for cosmetic brands is that they’re dealing with a highly skeptical and cynical market. We’re naturally cynical about anything new that has no substance to it.

There’s also choice overwhelm. There’s so much product entering the market, and now that brands are slapping a menopausal sticker on it, there’s skepticism. Is it a sales tactic or is it real? What’s missing is education. Women over 50 want more information about what products are right for them, how they should be used, and why they should invest in them. They want real evidence. The industry needs to step up, start connecting with women directly, and offer guidance because right now, there’s a disconnect.

Siobhan Murphy: Harold, if you’re thinking about performance, what are the technical challenges and where are the opportunities for ingredient companies to create products for menopausal skin?

Harold Van der Hoeven: That’s a big question. We make active ingredients for the cosmetic industry, focusing on skincare. We try to understand the biological processes that take place in the skin leading to the problems or concerns people have. Lots of things happen during menopause, and there are many differences between premenopausal and postmenopausal skin.

One big challenge is that we don’t want to have estrogen-like or hormonal effects with cosmetics. We want to compensate for the loss of estrogen in the skin by doing something good for consumers that they can feel and see the difference with. That’s a huge challenge, especially as there’s not that much scientific literature available on the subject. Yes, skin becomes drier, collagen reduces, and we know these things from normal biological aging, but how does menopause fit in there? It’s a huge picture where we’re trying to find answers.

Siobhan Murphy: Wizz, what are the technical challenges for your brand, Valerie?

Wizz Selvey: The biggest challenge for us is communicating the technology we’re using to the customer. We have a liposomal formula that ensures the nutrients get into the bloodstream rather than being destroyed by stomach acid or passed through the body, but the consumer doesn’t really know what liposomal means. So it’s an education piece—helping them understand the technology and how it solves their problem. Consumers are looking for products that are more bioavailable. Gut health, for example, is becoming more widely understood, so we focus on educating consumers about how our product fits into that.

Siobhan Murphy: Susanna, what advice would you give someone like Wizz on these technical challenges?

Susanna Hancock: From my perspective as a consumer, the technical detail matters more to the brand than it does to the consumer. Ultimately, we just want to know the outcome—what’s this going to do for me, and how long will it take? You’ll have some consumers interested in the science, but for most, it’s about simplicity. If you don’t make it simple, you lose them. They’ll go for the quick fixes, bypassing great products for more immediate treatments like Botox or hyaluronic acid. Communication needs to be about how you make things relevant and easy to understand.

Siobhan Murphy: Harold, what are the environmental challenges, and where are the opportunities for ingredient companies to create products for menopausal skin?

Harold Van der Hoeven: I take the word “environment” very literally. When I think of environment, I don’t just think about UV light or pollution, but also the psychological and social environment—things like financial stress, food, and lifestyle all impact the body. Hormonal changes like menopause are part of that, and these environmental factors can accelerate skin aging. If we can understand how these interact biologically, that’s where the biggest challenge lies for the cosmetic industry.

Siobhan Murphy: Wizz, what are the environmental challenges at your brand, Valerie?

Wizz Selvey: There are so many different factors—the internal and external environment of a woman. There are visible changes in the skin, but much of it comes from internal factors, such as nutrition and hormones. We focus on supplements to help skin from the inside out, but also on educating women about how they can support themselves through lifestyle changes, like reducing stress, exercising, and holistic therapies. It’s not just about taking a supplement or going on HRT.

Siobhan Murphy: Susanna, what advice do you give brands regarding these environmental challenges?

Susanna Hancock: I completely agree with what Wizz just said. We need a blended and balanced holistic approach. The concept of time for oneself is a huge problem, especially for Gen X women, who are often balancing careers, family, and caring for aging parents. Women in this age group don’t have much time for themselves. Brands can help by creating opportunities that make it easier for women to take care of themselves. In addition, we’re also very aware of our environment—both in terms of skincare products and sustainability. We want products that are good for our skin but also for the planet.

Siobhan Murphy: Harold, what are the regulatory challenges and opportunities for ingredient companies in this space?

Harold Van der Hoeven: The regulatory landscape is very strict, especially in the UK, and rightly so. Claims about products need to be backed by studies and evidence. It’s easy to sell products based on marketing fluff—nice words, beautiful packaging—but that won’t lead to sustainable success. It’s important for ingredient suppliers like us to bridge the gap between science and consumer perception.

Siobhan Murphy: Wizz, what about the regulatory challenges at Valerie?

Wizz Selvey: For us, it’s less about challenges and more about how we communicate what we’re doing. We have 76 European health claims that we can talk about, but it’s about linking those claims to the customer’s needs. We’re putting content and community at the heart of our strategy, gathering customer feedback, and engaging in two-way conversations through forums and our community WhatsApp group. Consumers will buy based on trust and emotive reasons, so it’s about balancing regulation with customer engagement.

Siobhan Murphy: Susanna, what advice do you give brands regarding these regulatory challenges?

Susanna Hancock: I agree with Wizz—community is the key. We’re largely self-regulating. If your friend tells you not to use a product, you’ll listen to them more than any marketing campaign. Building communities and fostering word-of-mouth recommendations are powerful. Consumers want to feel confident in the products they’re using, and building trust within peer groups is one of the best ways to achieve that.

Siobhan Murphy: Harold, can you describe the future of the menopausal skincare market in three words?

Harold Van der Hoeven: Huge, effective, and complex. We’re just starting to understand postmenopausal skin, and while the market potential is huge, the complexity lies in creating effective products that deliver perceivable results for women.

Siobhan Murphy: Wizz, how would you describe the future of the menopausal skincare category in three words?

Wizz Selvey: Trust, efficacy, and emotive.

Siobhan Murphy: And Susanna, your three words?

Susanna Hancock: Ride-or-die, inclusive, and exciting. It’s either going to work, or it won’t, and we’ll lose the momentum, but if we get it right, it’s an exciting time for women and the industry.

Siobhan Murphy: With that, I would like to thank my guests—Harold, Wizz, and Susanna—for joining me today, and to you, the listeners, for tuning in.